Archive for April, 2006

universal image translates into more pleasing art prints

It seems to be a day for looking at older work. Such is what happens when new work is either not ready to share or not as good as one would hope.

The above piece continues on a theme of first prints. I was incredibly pleased with this piece and particularly what seems to be pretty universal appeal.

Between the rocking of the ocean, the complementary orange and blue colors, and the odd green in the sky almost reminiscent of the green flash sometimes present at the moment of sunset – this is a piece to get lost inside.

The first poster sized print I ever did was this piece – but it was not done on a poster quality paper and never had true color.

It was some years later that I started printing on watercolor paper, using pigment inks, and getting the quality color that I have been so apt to promote.

Fluid piece from past contrasts with overworked recent work

Originally I was planning on sharing a recent digital painting – but I surprised myself by not being able to undo a mistake. I write all the time about mistakes being mistakes only in relation to what follows – meaning – they can be ok and even a blessing if you keep working.

Well I did, but the color in the piece had gotten too muddy … and even though I worked it to a point that I liked it – when printed it just didn’t sing.

But above is a piece I did many years ago. It was quite fluid – not overworked – and as far as I am concerned quite pleasing.

My understanding of the medium was quite limited at the time, but I had learned how to overlap translucent color gradients and that was huge.

Anyway – I am offering the above piece as an example of what works … and chalking up my latest piece to not everything can be so good.

representing creative, positive, community change

Salinas, California like lots of places is in need of a renaissance. The image of the city is tarnished by imbalanced reporting of gang violence.

I have recently had the opportunity of working with a group of high schools students – quite creative, quite personable, quite intelligent, and quite determined to rebrand themselves and Salinas.

This group has promoted and curated a city wide high school art show – which is being held at the communtiy college within the city – Hartnell College. They have over and over proved themselves dedicated to the community.

Inspiration for piece and creating art prints from it

To get to the farm house which houses Outhouse Studios, one must pass a minimum of two treacherous curves. This is the scene from one of the approaches.

I focused on the section where three strips of different crops intersect with a good sized hill. It never seemed that far away driving by. In fact, I was surprised one day seeing a crew walking at the top of hill – just how small they looked and therefore far away.

The people in the top far right corner – they looked like worry dolls – so I didn’t get too involved in making them look like anything more.

From a printing standpoint, I actually printed this very large 32×40" – it worked but there was no significant improvement over what you could see in the 13×19" print. The original e-canvas did not warrant such an enlargement – and I will only offer this as an art print up to 24×30" for that reason.

When I first found a printing company who could do the quality of printing I wanted on fine watercolor paper, this was the piece I chose first to print large.

When I created it, I used a template (e-canvas) I had created which had the maximum pixels I could create with – given the program with which I paint. It was intended to be printed large from its inception.

I chose the piece because of its texture. On the computer I can enlarge a piece and visualize a section at a time at the intended size – but not the whole piece. This particular work looked like it would change dramatically when enlarged.

Despite a number a printing trials, the first piece did not print with correct colors – part of Macintosh to Windows conversion and just the shear trickiness of it.

Many prints later, I am pleased to say, we have printing accurately really dialed in.

experimenting with new program leads to new work and positive results

In 2003 my old computer died. It wasn’t very impressive – barely could get online – I was fortunate to be able to use email at my (at the time) workplace.

When I replaced my computer, I was fortunate that I did not have to lose any of the paintings I had created – they were safe on another hard drive.

But I bought another Mac and the program which it had for painting was more sophisticated and had textures – which I have since found out I could customize as needed.

The above piece was one of the first pieces I did using texture. It still utilizes the overlapping translucent gradients, but added textured color. It was relatively simple, but more importantly it was created with little expectation or cares.

A well received piece and learning how to print it well

When I first got a high quality wide-format printer – this was my favorite piece. It was fairly recent at the time and it was what I wanted to see printed first.

I am sure you can imagine that type of excitement of a new printer and printing on watercolor paper for the first time.

The first print actually came out beautiful, but it wasn’t accurate. It was way too bold and bright – although part of its beauty. Like most artists and creative people, I was looking for a larger element of control.

Through a great deal of controlled experimentation, the printing quality and color accuracy that Outhouse Studios can achieve is artistically perfect – I don’t think I could ask for better.Salinas Valley 1 is a well received piece, and I have had the opportunity to refine the printing and also have it printed larger – 22×28 inch, matted and framed. The blue is even more incredible printed and the row crops in the Salinas valley hills have a great deal more depth.

It perhaps explains their commentary. I guess it is some kind of RGB/CMYK confusion – but I have to confess I kind of like it.

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Anyway – I show this because I think sometimes that printing is a lot like the above examples. I am sure there are a zillion articles on how to print accurately.All I can pass on is that if it isn’t right, you need to experiment…and make notes on the back of your images about the settings. Print small so you use less ink and try to be methodical and use common sense.I am on my third version of how to print – my first two were good – but the third is the best. The differences are subtle, but have to do with richness of color and feeling I can’t quite put my finger on.Technology and color profiles were supposed to make it easier – I’ve heard from many – it is not so. But I do know that at Outhouse Studios and the local printer I work with, we have the formula down:

Art prints always look as good as the digital painting … and 99% of the time, they look even better.

Link to shopping cart yields miniature icon

When I first built my website, the shopping cart stayed open as a separate window – so it didn’t seem necessary to have a link to it in any fashion. When someone bought – there it was.

Recently, I was on a site and noticed a little icon for a shopping cart – nothing special, but for some reason it made an impression. And when I checked how my shopping cart works now, I realized I needed to have a link. Gone are the days of a separate window.

So I had a little fun creating this miniature cart and throwing some art inside. I actually took some miniature sections of some of my work and put it in the cart.

But at the size on the website… no one would ever know. But that is why I am including the original size here. Plus I think the size of the original work is interesting.

I have found that something too big – won’t look good small and something too small won’t look good big. Though there is incredible flexibility within the digital art medium, it is not without its limits.